Aether woke up in the hospital again. He looked around and found himself in a familiar place, many people laying around him with bandages all over their bodies. His body pain was killing him but he managed to get up and rest his back on a pillow.

Lucy walked into the room that Aether was in, carrying medicine in her hands. As soon as she looked at Aether, her mouth started to twitch and a vein popped up on her forehead.

“You?” she said with disbelief. “Huh? Old woman? Yo.”

She walked towards him with the most artificial smile he had ever seen. Now that Aether looked carefully both his arms were plastered.

Lucy removed the bandages on his chest and cleaned his wound with a towel harshly. “OW! OW! Slowly, woman you’ll open the wound up again!” he exclaimed. Lucy showed no concern for him and continued her work.

She applied a fresh bandage and tied it up as tight as she could with all of her strength. “OW!” Aether wailed. “Call me old again and I’ll dig a hole in your head next time.” She said and moved on to the next patient.

The pig popped out in front of him. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up. You’ve been asleep for two whole days.” He complained.

Aether was a little shocked. “Two days? I did overexert my body so it’s kind of expected.”

“Overexerted or not you managed to make it through the first stage.” The pig said with excitement and happiness. ‘Finally, this useless man has taken a step in the right direction.’ He thought and nodded.

“I did?” Aether asked confusedly. “I thought I disqualified.”

“You didn’t, you collapsed right at the finish line. More importantly, the second stage of the entrance exam is tomorrow. You better ready yourself.” The pig said.

“How can I be ready? Both my arms are plastered, my upper body has wounds all over it and my body pains if I move it even just a tad bit.” Aether said. He was a little sceptical about it.

“Lucky for you, the next test doesn’t require the use of your body. Just prepare yourself mentally. You don’t have a choice anyway.” The pig said. There was truth in that.

Gloom shadowed over Aether’s face. The pig looked at him and sighed. “You’re right I don’t have a choice.” He said as his gloom turned into determination. “It’s better that I don’t or I wouldn’t be determined enough to do anything.” He said with a smile.

Problems, he had so many problems. He was supposed to be the supreme ruler of Cheena. Oh! How the heralds would scream his name when he entered his throne room. Han Qianlong, Sixth of his name, ruler of the ancient clans, protector and supreme lord of the kingdom. He was supposed to live a life full of luxury, drowning in wine and enjoying the company of the women. Or at least that is what he thought ruling was about. Instead, all he had were problems. Loads and Loads of them.

He was thinking of all this as he walked through a dark corridor. The floor was uneven and wet which made it difficult to walk. His lamp lighted up the path for him.

The corridor led him to a pitch-black door. A door so black and eerie, with monsters carved on it that it would give people nightmares. He put his palm on it and chanted a certain spell. He felt the cold and sturdy metal which made him feel uncomfortable just by touching it. A magic circle appeared on it. The door slowly moved up into the wall while making loud noises.

Qianlong walked in. He felt fear seep into him from everywhere as he broke into a sweat. Coming into this room was what he hated most. He hated doing it as a child and now he had to do it every day. If you would ask him what his greatest problem was out of all he had he would answer without any hesitation that it was entering this terrible room.

“Ancestor,” he said as his eyes locked with another’s. The ‘Ancestor’ he was referring to was sitting on a chair. He had golden eyes with golden hair, the same as Qianlong. His face and lips were so pale, it was as if all life had been sucked out of his body. He smiled widely as he called out- “My child! You’re here to visit me again! I hope you have brought me some good news.” The man looked to be in his thirties but he still referred to Qianlong as a child who wasn’t any younger than him.

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Qianlong gulped down all the saliva he had in his mouth. “We found two more shards, your grace.” He said nervously.

Han Zheng whole body was covered by a long golden coloured robe. The only thing exposed was his head. He shrugged the sleeves and removed his arms from them. Qianlong started shuddering as he watched Han Zheng clapping to himself. His arms weren’t even creating a clapping soun, in fact, it was as if two stones were colliding with one another.

The strangest part wasn’t the sound but Han Zheng’s arms themselves. There was no blood, muscle or any hint of flesh on them. All Qianlong saw was two arms made of bones clapping.

Han Zheng got up. “Well done child, well done.” He said and slowly walked towards Qianlong. Qianlong’s whole body shuddered. His body tensed up as he saw Han Zheng walking towards him. He stood in front of Qianlong and whispered into his ears. “Is that what you hoped I would say?” Han Zheng asked.

Qianlong stepped back with terror on his face. “Did I say you could move back?” Han Zheng questioned and caught Qianlong’s neck and lifted him up. Qianlong struggled, his legs were wriggling around in the air and he was running out of breath. He tried to take the bony arm off his neck but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t shake the arm off.

Han Zheng who was still smiling let go of his neck after some time and watched him fall on his back, gasping for air. “I lost the energy core because of you.” He spread both his arms out “Now it’s turned into shards and is spread all around the continent.” He bent down and stopped smiling, his eyes turned into slits “I’m not satisfied with just two shards; I want all of them and fast.” Qianlong was so terrified he almost shit himself.

“All I want back is my body. Do you know how hard it is to live without a dick?” He said with a sad pretence in his voice.

He turned around and walked back to his chair. “You better hurry it up. Oh! And always keep in mind that you can be replaced.” He said.

Knowing that Han Zheng was done with him, Qianlong quickly got up and ran away. He chanted a spell and closed the pitch-black door. He collapsed right to the ground after that. If someone knew how he was humiliated, no one would respect him. He didn’t want to stay here any longer so he started running out of the corridor to get out of this place as fast as possible.

Aether was standing in a hall with all the other people who had passed the labyrinth test. The headmaster Siarchas was in front of them. He used his magic to amplify his voice again. He had a warm and welcoming smile on his face.

“Eleftheria is a prestigious institution. To pass the first stage of the examination, I congratulate you.” He said.

Everyone cheered and smiled. Even Aether was happy for making it this far. Siarchas’s face changed into a serious one. “But here at Eleftheria, there is no room for slackers. We do not care about your background, your faith, your looks or your talent. The only things we do care about are hard work. No matter how much talent you have, it is all a waste if you do not put it to use.”

The hall was silent once again as Siarchas put a smile on his face. “With that said, I wish you good fortune in the next test. May only the deserving be awarded.” He said and walked away.

Vince arrived on the stage next and advised everyone to move to the rooms on their right. The large group was split into 10 smaller groups and were led to different rooms.

Aether went along his group. Once he was into the room, they were told to sit on the floor. The room was very huge and could easily accommodate100 people. There was a smell of incense in the room. The floor was made of marble and the walls of the room were made in stone.

After everyone was seated in the room neatly. The person in front of them started chanting something. “Look at my forehead,” he said after some time. An eye suddenly appeared on his forehead; the pupil of the eye was like a small magic circle.

When Aether looked at the magic circle, he felt he was being sucked into it. “What the hec,” he said as he felt his soul leaving his body. Suddenly he was brought into a snowy area. There was a small house in front of him and there were trees scattered around the place.

He could feel the cold penetrating through his body. “Ugh,” he groaned and caught his body. He was barefooted and his feet had sunk into the snow. He was still wearing the thin clothes that he had on at the hospital.

“What am I doing here?” He asked himself. “What was I doing?”. He couldn’t remember anything. It was almost as if he had a memory loss.

A woman opened the door and walked out into the snow with an umbrella. She had black hair tied into a ponytail and black eyes. She looked at Aether angrily. “Aether! Come inside!” she screamed.

Aether involuntarily walked towards the door. His eyes teared up. He recognized the voice as soon as he had heard it, he would never forget it. He felt a mix of emotions rushing through his body but he didn’t know why. “Mom?” he called out. He got in the small house with the woman as she closed the door behind her and rubbed the snow off Aether.

“You’re alive?” he asked. Tears fell down his face. “What?” Fayre asked with confusion. Aether rubbed the tears with sleeves. “Nothing, it’s nothing. Sorry for asking weird things.” He said quickly.

“Why are you apologizing? You’re acting a bit strange today. Are you alright?” Fayre asked. “Yeah, I’m alright.” Just as he finished his sentence a small body hugged him behind.

“Brother! Let’s go outside and play!” Bella said. Aether didn’t know why he was feeling melancholic. “No. it’s too cold outside.” Fayre said.

Bella pouted stubbornly. “But I want to play with brother.” She said. Fayre denied her again sternly. “No, you will not go outside today. Go play in your room.”

Bella stormed off to her room angrily. She had waited for her brother all day so he could play with her but her mother wouldn’t let her. Fayre sighed and looked at Aether who was still dazed. “Go cheer her up a little. I’ll prepare lunch” she said and walked away.

Aether still half-dazed walked into Bella’s tiny room. They weren’t a rich family so Bella didn’t have a lot of toys. She was playing with the only two she had. A pretty stuffed doll and an angry looking T- Rex.

Aether sat beside her and smiled. “You’re angry at mom?” he asked. “Hmph,” she said and played with her toys, paying no mind to Aether. Aether looked at her chubby cheeks full of baby fat. He pinched her cheeks hard until they were beet red. “You know, for a small little thing, you have a lot of anger.” Bella cried as she escaped from his grasp and ran away. She looked at him with hateful eyes while caressing her cheeks. “I’ll tell mommy” she whined.

Aether just laughed softly. “Oh, that’s scary. How about this? If you won’t tell ‘mommy’ I’ll take you outside to play.”

“You will?” she asked him excitedly. Aether nodded. “I will, but you shouldn’t tell mom and you have to wear the fur coats.” Bella hated the fur coats. Not only did they look ugly but they also felt very uncomfortable. She wanted to go out very badly so she agreed to wear them.

Aether wore his fur coat and silently snuck out with Bella through the back door. The town was 2 miles away from their house. It was called Mondale. It was a small but jolly town. They walked to the town quickly and entered a café. “Mr Quills! Two hot chocolates.” Aether said and sat down on a table. Bella and he quickly finished their hot chocolates and roamed around the town for a bit before heading back to their house. On the way back to the home they played in the snow for a bit.

When he came back, he saw Fayre standing just behind the door. “Mom,” he said startled. Fayre eyes had fire in them. She looked at the two troublemakers angrily. She gave them a 30-minute lecture before a voice came from behind her.

“Oh, that’s enough. Don’t be so hard on them let’s eat already.” Said a man.

Aether who had his head down out of guiltiness suddenly looked up. His eyes reddened. His blood started flowing faster. His blanking out. Rage took over his body all of a sudden. He looked at the man in front of him. “Elios… Elios fucking Spearman”